The Popularity Project
by FaximumEverdeen
Summary: Becoming one of the most popular and successful students in school is not easy. Pair that with a huge, confusing, crazy family, an uneven reputation to keep, the unfortunate mishaps of one Ride, the "unbalanced" teachers of Greyhound High, a whole bunch of new faces and a life on the outskirts of Portland, and what do you get? Yep. Max. Varying POVs.
1. I'll Crush You, Donkey

**Summary: Being one of the most popular and successful students in school is not easy. Pair that with a huge, confusing, crazy family, an uneven reputation to keep, the unfortunate mishaps of one Ride, the "unbalanced" teachers of Greyhound High, a whole bunch of new faces and a life on the outskirts of Portland, and what do you get? Yep. **_**Max. **_**Varying POVs.**

**A/N: Ohaidere! Yeah, I decided to make a new story, and yeah, I know it's crazy, because I already have 3 going at the moment. But hey, you can't limit a writer's imagination! To summarise where the summary hasn't, Max is popular for many reasons, most of which you will find out in the story. The chapters will all be from a single POV, so it's not always Max's insight. I usually want to see what other characters think of something, not just a single person, so this way you can get the full coverage you want: if you have a POV request, PM or review, buddies! That also means you might have to read whose POV it is carefully, because I read it wrong once and thought they were saying that Max had dated Lissa before, but it was actually Fang's POV.  
Max lives on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon with her mum and various random family members. The houses aren't near school, and Max isn't usually seen in public, which just gives that "elusive and exclusive" edge to her personality – and popularity, too.**

**Hope you enjoy the first chapter, pretty much an intro to Max's life, then things will pick up, I promise. R&R**

**Songs of the Day, A/N 1: Ignite – Noisestorm  
watch?v=k0IsgyhPTNY&list=SPBCF80F88F57D9C01&index=8&feature=plcp**

**Disclaimer for the whole story: I don't own Maximum Ride, or any references to shops, places, fandoms, music or anything else you find in this story. I warned you: Don't sue me!**

Hello, People That Aren't Me.

Get your notebooks out, readers, because this can get a little confusing and I want you to follow; I'm not going to repeat myself.

Jeb would be the logical place to start, since he's the man responsible for all of this. Jeb Batchelder: 34 years old, scientist, currently married to Marian Batchelder (maiden Janssen), 38, also a scientist, and a crisp one too. Mother of Ari Batchelder, 6, owner of Malamute Akila and beetle… Beetle, and Maya Janssen, 22, mother of Ari Janssen; named after her beloved younger brother. Maya was on a university geography where she met her ex-sweetheart, Roland Ter-Borcht, father of baby Ari. Unfortunately they never got married and split up when Maya's trip progressed from Germany, the place where they met and the birth country of Roland, to France. Maya would rather not talk about it but I do know that she broke it off because Roland was controlling and almost kidnapped her because he wanted them to stay in Germany forever. Douche. And by that time, Maya was single, still in schooling and now also pregnant. (In case you're thinking: wait, Jeb and Marian only got together a few years ago, Maya isn't Jeb's blood daughter.) Former-wife of Jeb Batchelder: Anne Walker, 31, FBI agent (minus the helicopters. Okay maybe not), mother of twins Angel and Zach, also known as Zephyr, Captain Terror, Gazzy or the Gasman, 10-year-old owners of male Scottie Total, who is most likely in love with Akila. That brings us to the wife before Anne, Valencia Martinez. 29, vet, mother of gorgeously Hispanic over-achiever Ella and also yours truly, owners of a grumpy pug named Magnolia, who is just too proud to be in love with Total and can only be controlled by a blood-Martinez. Whup for me. Former-husband of Valencia Martinez; Hans Gunther-Hagen, father of Sam and Dylan, my cousins, but not by blood. Hans' sister, Heidi Griffiths, 27, mother of Lissa Griffiths, owner of Moral, an American Saddlebred, and James "Iggy" Griffiths, 'father' of secret pet piglet Punkin. Valencia and Hans had one child whilst they were married; Jennifer Joy or "J.J." as she prefers (and by 'prefers', I mean do it or she'll have your arm off), who now lives on the ranch with Hans, Sam, Dylan and current guests Heidi, Lissa and Iggy.

And then there's me. I could go into a lot of detail here and hand you another paragraph as long as the one above about myself, because obviously, ogres have layers. Like an onion. (And don't say like a cake, because I'll crush you, Donkey.) But I won't, because I'm a generous ogre. My name is Maximum Ride, Max to those that value their noses. I'm 16, crazy, and I'll let everyone else explain to you what I look like – I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about how gorgeous I am soon. Oh yes, and my personality: one thing you'll notice quite quickly is that I'm devastatingly modest.

My um… 5 families have 4 houses (and a ranch, where J.J.'s homies live) on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. The closest high school from our land is Greyhound High, which is where we've been studying *cough*goofing off*cough* for the majority of our lives so far. The families bought this land together because Jeb still gets along with his ex-wives and my mom with her ex-husband (Hans, not Jeb). Jeb's never had a messy break-up: I know having two ex-wives and a new wife, not to mention all the girlfriends, makes him sound like a womanizer, but he's not. He just hasn't found a woman that he gets along with long-term yet, and none of them have seemed to "love" him for very long. That's not counting Anne and my mom; they're decent women and they did love him enough to marry him, even if they did get divorced in the end. Criticise them and say goodbye to your face!

(Ha. Ha-ha.)

Being the most damn popular chick in the school is not as easy as you would have thought. It's precisely because everybody knows your name that you have to be so careful about how you present yourself, and what you do in public. I would know, but I'm too thick to realise it, so I just act like nobody's watching most of the time. And I think that's exactly why I got where I am in the first place.

Got it? No? Read it again then, Sherlock.

**A/N: Did you guys like the intro? And did you actually understand it? ;) Sorry it was so short, it was pretty much just an explanation of Max's life and family; I did try to make it interesting. But was it interesting enough that you would read the next chapter?**

**If you were wondering, the part about ogres having layers like onions and cakes was a Shrek reference. Shrek and Donkey are arguing about what an ogre's layers are like: Shrek says onions, but Donkey insists that it's like cake… probably because he's craving cake. I tried to use a lot of original names for Max's family because I like it when people do that, and also, I added Magnolia because I think she never gets enough recognition. I swear, if you ask a group of MR fans what original dogs they can think of in MR, 98% will say Total and Akila, because nobody remembers Maggie.**

**Song of the Day, A/N 2: Impulse – Noisestorm  
watch?list=SPBCF80F88F57D9C01&feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=TD-_zWjOqMM**

**Fly on –**

**Faximum**


	2. Fly on, Fangles

**A/N: Hulloo again, and welcome to chapter twooo! Hope you's enjoy.**

**Mistake from chapter 1: Maya was on a geography trip, not a geography.**

**Song of the Day, A/N 1: Liv it up (Teenage Wasteland) – Alexander Ludwig. watch?v=nFNdqPNAMfs**

Fly On, Fangles

**Fang**

I've never been on a plane before, so I never realised how much security you have to go through. There's a whole lot more for when you're on a trip abroad, but they still don't want you transferring yo' cannabis from Ohio to Cali, so there's a damn lot of procedures when you're only flying from Arizona to Oregon. So that's another reason to hate that we're moving states.

Of course, Monique loves it. Couldn't be more excited. That's Monique for you though; and you can't really expect otherwise. Even now, she's practically buzzing like she's had ten cans. Tess hardly looks like she cares, but I can tell she's really looking forward to changing her social status when we get there. But really, if you only wanted to have different classes, then move schools. Not states. It's because of my mom's work. She's got a promotion, but the position requires her to be closer to the higher-ups in the new office building, which with my luck is _of course _in Portland.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Nick Holden. My mother, Star Holden, is a full-time business woman, and my father, Ratchet Holden, is the co-owner of a pest control business, along with William Bolt, to make 'Ratchet & Bolt Pests-Aside' (for short, they just call it the RBPA). If I was a business co-owner and moving from Arizona to Oregon, I think I would quit and get a new job, but apparently, this is a 'fantastic opportunity for the business to spread like a swarm of termites'. Yeah, sometimes I wish he would leave out the insect references too.

I've already been through two pat-downs, so I'm not surprised and a little annoyed when the buzzer goes off _again. _I'm sorry, but I don't remember shoving about a hundred key chains down my pants this morning, and I'm starting to get the feeling that this security woman, who looks around twenty, is just doing this because she wants to make _absolute _sure that my abs are really there before texting her friends. As she pats along the side of my shirt for the third time, she frowns with concentration. _(Yep, it's the abs thing, isn't it?) _I've had to take off my jacket and hoodie already, so I'm kind of relieved when she lets me go before she could get the chance to 'do her laundry on my washboard' or something. Okay, it's not like I'm vain about myself or anything. I'm just really proud of them, okay? c:

"Nicckky, we're going to get on the plane soon! And it's going to be so ultimately like, super awesome!" Monique jumps on my back and hooks her arms around my neck. She's still holding her suitcase, which has come off the floor, swung around and is now repeatedly thwacking me in the arm. "I wonder what it's going to be like in Oregon. Ooh, ooh, ooh! I know you don't want to go, so I'm going to _make _you want to go. Do you know how?"

"No, Mon, I don't."

She giggles. "I love it when you do that Jamaican thing. So anyway, I am going to make you want to go _becaaause _if you don't speed up I will stay on your back the whole way to the plane and talk in your ear," she rests her head on my shoulder, "LIKE THIS! Do you want to go now Nicky?"

"Yes, Mon, I do."

"Yaaay! I bet you're going to meet some really cool guys there. And girls too. We're _both_ going to meet really cool girls! I wonder what the school is like. You know, the cliques, like _whooo's _POPULAR!" Ow. "Ooh, and ma was talking about the estates around there. The one we're going to live in is called the Greyhound Estate, and it sounds like it's a really fun place to live. Don't you just love living in fun places? It's boring if you live in a boring place; well, duh! But you knew that! So, I wonder what _life's _going to be like, just being there! And the beach! And the bedrooms! I totally call the one that I'm going to live in."

"Mon, you don't know what room you're going to live in yet." Sometimes she confuses me (and everyone else) but I'm sure everything makes a whole heap of sense in her own head. It must do, or even she would implode from time to time, just like the rest of us.

"I know, but like, I totally call it already!"

- - - o - - -

By the time she had finished telling me about what her room was going to look like, how she was going to decorate the inside of her locker and had just started telling me about what her friends' names were going to be, we've boarded the plane already. Monique and I have bagged a two-seater together. You can't blame me for wanting to sit with Tess instead though; I'm definitely not going to get that nap I had banked on whilst sitting next to the solo representative for the Monique Channel. I sit my headphones over my ears and shuffle, ending up with some good old We the Kings. Resting my head back, I try to tune into my iPod, but listen to my littlest sister too. I'm not a bad brother; plus, if she asks me if I was listening, I can say yes without lying.

" – so then I'm going to meet a girl called Ellie and a guy called Max, and I'm going to be friends with them forever till like the end of time. I also want to meet someone called Jennifer, because then we can swap names because for a day because I totally love the name Jennifer. Like Jennifer Lawrence – oh my kitten heels I just _loved _her as Katniss in the Hunger Games movie. _Loved. _I was so sad when Rue got stabbed I like, cried for the rest of the day. And then this time the week after, we were talking about hungry people in Africa and I started crying all over again because _hungry _people = _Hunger_ Games = RUE!" She squeals like it's the most obvious thing ever.

"Oh, I totally get your logic, Mon."

"I know right! How could you _not?! _So then also, I need to have a boyfriend at some point in my life instead of being some Larry Loner, Billy no-Boyfriend for totally like ever, and when I get one, we're going to be all romantic-y, and after the first date, we can come home and kiss on the doorstep 'cause I love clichés! And then you can give him that brother-to-boyfriend talk like –" coughing, she puts on a 'manly' deep voice, that apparently sounds like me. "– you'd better not hurt my little sister or I'm coming for you. I just want you to know that if you're like totally not serious about your relationship together, I will like totally squish you! Like a bug!" she squeals again, male voice forgotten. "Ew! Squished bug! Ew that sounds so gross right now!"

- - - o - - -

As we walk out of the terminal, I look around, interested. There's no kidding we're definitely moving here now, so it won't hurt to see what it's like. And I have to say, it's actually kind pretty. Aside from the huddle of industrial-looking buildings in the distance, and of course the mega-saurus parking lot outside the airport, the sky is a beautiful shade of blue, fading into the distance and sprinkled with tufts of cloud. I can see streaks tearing down over a distant mountain, where it must be pouring down with rain. There are lime-green trees lining the lot, and on one side, they _branched _off into an untouched forest. (I was going to make another tree joke, but I decided to just be annoying and _leaf _you hanging.)

We pick up our rental truck, because we sold the other cars back in Arizona, and as we drive towards the Greyhound Estate, I think for once, maybe I shouldn't have written this off so early.

**A/N: Hey again, so did you like Fang's POV? Should I do it again? And fortunately, this didn't take as long as it usually does to write a chapter, so maybe I can start another one tonight, if you liked this one.**

**If you're wondering why Fang's calling himself Nick and Nudge is still Monique, that's because they'll get their nicknames sometime during high school.**

**Also, Nudge was right about some things that she was predicting. They will meet a Max, but not a male Max, not an Ell**_**ie **_**but an Ell**_**a **_**instead, and a Jennifer who prefers to be called J.J.**

**Song of the Day, A/N 2: Intensity – Noisestorm**

**watch?v=uTdKEsyO2_0&feature=relmfu**

**Fly on –**

**Faximum **


	3. Barking Dogs

**A/N: Before I say anything else, I would like to spread the word about the neediest charity in the world right now. It's called Feedback for the Reviewless, dedicated to my last chapter, who is cold and lonely at night because he didn't get any reviews. So please, donate one review today and help change innocent chapters' lives the world over.**

**Song of the Day, A/N 1: Oblivion – Noisestorm (as you can tell, I'm definitely on a kick)  
watch?v=9gssVGckw7I&feature=relmfu**

Barking Dogs

**Lissa**

I storm across the street in a rage. Oh God, so help me before I break a window. I can't believe he would disrespect my music like that. He knows how much it means to me; he's my _brother, _but of course he doesn't give a crap anymore. And he knows why it means so much, too. If nothing else, he should realise what he's saying before he does it, just because of that. It was his father too.

Iggy, why, Iggy? I have reason to believe he's forgotten. I'm not good at anything: I'm not as popular as Max, as smart as Ella, as successful as Dylan, and I'm not nearly as talented as Iggy himself. I am nothing without that deck. And I thought he knew that.

I don't know where I'm going, just somewhere. Being back in West Greyhound always quashes my nerves. This place has a super bad reputation, and for a reason too. There can be exceptions, but only if you were born here are you truly accepted, and you won't be targeted by gangs. That's why I don't have anything to be scared of here; I'm one of them. I'm a recognised figure. And if anyone attacks me in this side of Greyhound, they'll have a few fists to answer to. Including my own: one thing you should get straight in your head before you read on: I am _not _a priss.

Only when I'm up the steps do I realise where I was headed all along. My old home. It was never sold, and probably won't be for quite some time until a Westhound couple decide to coop up and raise a family around here. I can still get in; I don't need a key. Going round to the wooden gate, I swing atop, take out my earring and pick the lock. I made them myself; a girl learns how to accessorise with style that's so cool it's almost _criminal_ when she grows up here. I slide in on a leg and end up in the kitchen sink, literally. Leaving the window open a crack, I jump out and make my way up the old stained stairs. I then unhook the loft hatch, kick up to the ledge and go up into the attic, where my father's old equipment still lies. This is where the magic happens.

He probably expected it to stay untouched when he died, ancient and dusty, because neither of his children had ever taken an interest in his profession. That he knew of; because I always used to sneak up here, preparing just one piece, for him to feel. He would've been so proud. But the leukaemia stole him from me before I ever finished. And now, without it, I'm like a fish out of water.

My father was deaf. He was also a full-time dubstep artist. And now, so am I.

I sit down at the desk and flick everything on, then I begin to record some sequences. It starts off like a drawing. A blank page. Then, some outlines begin to appear, some shades and highlights, some colour and detail. After hours and hours of drawling hard work, you finally finish up with something spectacular. Something that no matter what anyone says, you are proud out of your mind. Because however hard they try to tell you that you're wasting your time, they're just barking dogs. And you just can't care for a second, 'cause you've crapped out of your mind to create a masterpiece.

- - - o - - -

At about half past 6, I really have something, so I decide to call it a day and head back up to J.J.'s. I can only hope Iggy's gone out, as I tuck-and-roll out of the attic, then back out of the kitchen window. I make sure the window's locked securely before I head off. I may be a Westhound, but I don't live there anymore. People know that, and won't be afraid to take a tickle from the collection, if you know what I'm saying. As I jog towards South Greyhound, I frequently check over my shoulder to make sure no one's following. One thing about Max is that nobody knows where she lives, but they'll find out soon enough if they follow me back. Even her ex-boyfriends wouldn't tell you if you asked them, not even if you paid them. They're all either too loyal, too paranoid, or both, to say it. One time, one of her boyfriends was bragging like hell about dating Max and accidentally let slip. He's home-schooled now.

When I reach the ranch gate, I need to take a deep breath before I climb over. If he's home, he needs to be ready to make a sincere apology, or he's getting a face full of fist fajita. I'm not kidding. He's never said anything like that before, and he needs to know what will happen if he does it again.

With my naturally long strides, I reach the door in no time, and this time I open it without hesitation. Iggy is most likely to be in the den right now, which is where he goes when he's not happy. Fortunately, it's also where I go when I'm unhappy, but not unhappy enough to go up to the old house, so it won't look like I'm searching for him. It would make me look petty, and that's not the kind of person I want to be seen as, so it's better if I'm just going to my 'unhappy place'.

But when I reach the steps down to the den, it's not Iggy that I see in there.

It is not even a who – more like a what.

**A/N: Did you like Lissa's POV, and seeing where she came from? Are you looking forward to the next chapter and finding out what was in the den?**

**Most of the time, in people's stories, they make Lissa look like a hoe. In the books, she flirts with Fang, but that doesn't mean she does it all the time with other boys. I like the idea of Lissa being a serious person on the shady side of town with untouched aspirations.**

**Song of the Day, A/N 2: Shockwave – Noisestorm (I promise I'll stop doing that soon -w-)  
watch?v=8n1UHAbZ-5w&feature=relmfu**

**Fly on –**

**Faximum**


End file.
